COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tara Harris has parked her car across from her apartment on East Long Street in downtown Columbus for months. She never had a problem until Oct. 22.

“I came out to a surprise that my car was on four cinder blocks. All four tires were stolen. It was a little bit of a shock,” said Tara Harris.

The damage did not stop at the tires. Other parts of her Lexus were ruined.

“Where they had the cinderblocks placed underneath the car there was paneling and things like that cracked. They have to replace those. When they pulled the tires off, there was damage behind there as well,” said Harris.

Harris said the damage is costing her about $10,000. But, she wasn’t the only one.

“My neighbor’s car was in the basement of the garage and it was damaged. He had his tires stolen as well,” she said.

She said she never worried about parking her car in the garage.

“No, never. The neighborhood they have done a lot of revitalizing to it. I always feel safe around here, and never would’ve questioned this. The garage is normally locked, and I never would’ve imagine this would happen over here,” said Harris.

They have a security gate and a scanner to get entrance into the garage. But, she said sometimes the gate doesn’t work.

“That fence and the gate was open. So, I don’t know if it was malfunctioning or if maybe they malfunctioned it when they got the tires,” she said.

Harris said now she will buy wheel locks to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

She wishes the owners of the garage, LAZ parking, would do a little more to protect the cars.

“I would suggest more security cameras. Like I said there’s only one by the gate so maybe one on each level,” said Harris.

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